Cough up more for 'Mega' and 'Rebel' shows: Distributors

After pumping in more Rs 300 crore in production for both the movies , the producers of 'Saaho' and 'Sye Raa….' are reportedly planning to sell the tickets at exorbitant rates to recover their huge investments in the two Telugu states.

"No doubt, producers of these two movies will be approaching governments in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to hike the ticket rates to draw as much collections as possible in the first three days.

But I humbly request the two governments not to oblige as it will dig a deep hole in the pockets of poor movie buffs. They will also encourage black marketers, who would sell the tickets four to five times more, which is sometimes sold through the ticket counter itself at some theatres, with the officials looking the other way," says Ghulam, a distributor from the Rayalaseema region, who terms the hike as 'Mega' and 'Rebel' tax.

"Get ready to pay more to watch Megastar and young Rebel star. Hiking ticket rates with support of court orders, special sanctions and benefit shows are part of the game-plan.

Unfortunately, they are pinching the pockets of gullible fans and masses which includes poor rickshawallahs, students, daily wage earners and lower-middle class audience.

The tickets rates in 1,600-odd theatres will be expected to priced between Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 including black tickets, while multiplex combo ticket rates set to go up to Rs 300 to 400 per head in the first week, which is nothing but broad daylight loot," he alleges.

Another distributor Ajay from Visakhapatnam adds. "Producers of big films are fascinated with bumper openings and raise expectations with huge pre-release hype.

Evoking curiosity among die-heard fans of respective stars to throng the theatres to watch 'first day first show' which enables producers-distributors and lessees to rake in unprecedented moolah.

Raising doubts about the content of the film itself, because if they are confident about their 'water-tight story' they can recover their investments in a week or two instead of fleecing viewers in the first three days.

With both the films getting 'solo' release without any competition, then why is hurry to shore up ticket rates and pocket bounty of big openings," he adds.

Distributor Srinivas of Nizam region, urges producers to exploit the film in overseas and other states, instead of hiking ticket rates in Telugu states. "Actually, overseas viewers are cash-rich and can afford to pay any amount.

That's one area these producers should exploit. Similarly, cities like Bangalore and Chennai also can be tapped for more revenues, than leaving Telugu viewers cash-trapped." he concludes.